Diarrheal disease in newborn food animals causes animal death and economic loss. In young beef and dairy calves, diarrheal disease is the leading cause of calf deaths in many areas of the world. While the etiology of the disease is not clearly defined, there are several different infectious agents capable of causing the clinical signs of diarrheal disease. Enterotoxigenic strains of E. coli have been found to be an important cause of acute diarrheal disease in calves under one week of age. This diarrhea in newborn animals such as calves may also be virus-caused, and it is known to prepare virus vaccines for prevention of the diarrhea. Exemplary of this type of work is U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,129, U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,004, U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,556, U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,547, U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,422, U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,412, U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,413 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,408.
Additionally, it is known to prevent enteric colibacillosis by a passive immunization technique wherein a pregnant dam is injected with a vaccine containing whole cells of killed enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). In this regard, vaccines containing one strain or six strains of ETEC are known, with the following publications being illustrative. S. D. Acres et al, Infection and Immunity, 25:121-126 (July 1979); L. L. Myers, Proceedings, 2nd International Symposium on Neonatal Diarrhea, Oct. 3-5, 1978, University of Saskatchewan, pages 427-437; B. Nagy, Infection and Immunity, 27:21-24 (January 1980); L. L. Myers, Am. J. Vet. Res., 34:29-33 (1973); L. L. Myers, Am. J. Vet. Res., 39:761-765 (1978); and L. L. Myers, Am. J. Vet. Res., 37:831-834 (1976). The first two of these publications show six strain vaccines containing at least 5 E. coli K antigens. These K antigens are K25, K85, K35, K28 and K30. These five K antigens are provided by equal amounts of five ETEC strains. As indicated in the below comparative example, which is taken from the second of these two publications, which is my own work, the K99 antigen is also present in my six strain vaccine for a total of at least six K antigens in that vaccine. The K99 antigen is also present in the six strain vaccine discussed in the Acres publication since this vaccine was formulated from the same serogroups used by me in my six strain vaccine. Thus, the six strain vaccine discussed by Acres also contains at least six K antigens.
However, this work and the other work of which I am aware is deficient in that it does not provide a vaccine containing several E. coli K antigens that is useful in the prevention of enteric colibacillosis, does not provide a vaccine of this type that causes an increased production of certain colostral antibodies in the dam of the newborn animal being protected, and does not provide a method for passive immunization against enteric colibacillosis using a vaccine containing several E. coli K antigens.